Courtney Presses Pentagon Official on Disparity Between Retrofitted Qatari Jet & the Official Air Force One Replacement

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), Ranking Member of the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, pressed a Pentagon official on the cost and timeline disparity between retrofitting President Trump’s Qatari jet to serve as Air Force One and the official Air Force One replacement, VC-25B.

“The disparity in terms of the costs and the disparity in terms of the schedule kind of screams out for some answers in terms just trying to make sure that the aircraft is going to be capable of doing what it’s supposed to do,” Courtney said. “Just from an intuitive standpoint, it just seems like something is different [with the Qatari jet] that we really need to understand better what that difference is.”

According to recent press reports, the Qatari jet could enter the Air Force One fleet on July 4th, 2026, less than a year after work began to retrofit the jet to serve as Air Force One. Today, in testimony to the Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Department of the Air Force William Bailey stated that the cost to retrofit the Qatari jet would be “under $400 million.” 

The official Air Force One replacements, two 747-8 aircraft, were purchased by the Air Force from Boeing in 2017 under a $3.9 billion fixed price contract with at least $2 billion in overruns.